Altered States

Altered States is the name of both a novel (ISBN 0060107278) and a film adaptation of that novel, both written by Paddy Chayefsky. It was the only novel that Chayefsky ever wrote, and his final film. Both novel and film are based on Dr. John C. Lilly's sensory deprivation research conducted in isolation tanks and sometimes under the influence of drugs like LSD. Although Chayefsky never contacted Lilly directly, Lilly liked the film version, and noted the following in an Omni magazine interview published in January 1983: